About Volunteer Ireland

Volunteer Ireland is the national organisation that promotes, supports and advocates for volunteering in Ireland. Our vision is an Ireland where volunteering thrives. Volunteer Ireland has identified five strategic goals for 2023-2027. These are to: 

• Advocate for volunteering 
• Support the Volunteer Centres
• Develop meaningful volunteering
• Raise the profile of volunteering  
• Grow and sustain an excellent organisation, consistent with our values 

We work with a range of stakeholders to make volunteering accessible, inclusive and of high quality. We build capacity in organisations and companies to create meaningful volunteering experiences. We celebrate volunteering and communicate its impact to Government and the wider public. We advocate for volunteering so that its value is recognised. We support the network of Volunteer Centres and work closely with them to ensure volunteering thrives at local and national level.

For more information about Volunteer Ireland, including staffing and governance, please see www.volunteer.ie.

Purpose of the role

The Digital Communications and Events Officer is responsible for leading on Volunteer Ireland’s digital communications and delivering the Volunteer Ireland Awards.

Main responsibilities

Digital Communications

• Coordinate and drive the development of VI’s social media presence to promote volunteering, grow brand awareness and engage social media users.
• Maintain VI’s website volunteer.ie (updating with regular news, blogs and general content management) to ensure the site acts as an online portal for volunteering in Ireland, retains current audiences and engages new visitors.
• Develop VI digital marketing copy / designs to ensure branding and messaging is consistent and representative of the organisation.
• Collate the Digest newsletter every other week to the network of affiliated Volunteer Centres, ensuring they are kept informed of VI’s activities and opportunities for engagement. 
• Develop email signatures promoting various campaigns and events throughout the year.

Volunteer Ireland Awards

• Lead on the delivery of the Volunteer Ireland Awards.
• Act as point of contact with the awards venue: manage contract; adhere to deadlines; and agree menu, table plan and final numbers. 
• Manage event budget.   
• Prepare for the launch of the nomination campaign including updating the nomination form and T&Cs.
• Manage the shortlisting process including putting together a panel of shortlisting judges, preparing all documents for the shortlisting day and managing the judging on the day.
• Manage the next phase of the shortlisting process including preparing the shortlist database, calling volunteers and nominators and act as point of contact for nominees.
• Manage attendee process including setting up Eventbrite for nominees and their guests and sending event details to nominees, judges, sponsors and presenters. 
• Manage the Volunteer of the Year judging process including selecting judges, preparing judging packs and reviewing final scores. 
• Manage the event on the night including preparing the run of show, organising certificates and trophies, liaising with presenters, sponsors and the venue, coordinating staff tasks ensuring a smooth event from start to finish.
• Act as point of contact for VIP invited guests e.g. the President, Minister, honourees and sponsors including writing invitations and completing relevant forms. 

National Volunteering Week (NVW)

• Support the delivery of NVW, taking a leading role on delivering all digital elements of the campaign.
• Develop all digital assets associated with the NVW campaign. 
• Coordinate the NVW campaign’s social media campaign across all channels.

Contribute to the culture of Volunteer Ireland

• Attend virtual and in-person staff meetings
• Participate in periodic, events, trainings, and volunteer opportunities
• Collaborate with VI staff on cross-organisational topics and discussions
• Engage volunteers where appropriate, and ensure delivery of best practice in volunteer management.

Person specification

This role will suit a flexible individual with excellent digital communication skills and a proven track record of delivering successful events.

Essential experience and competencies

• Experience in creating and implementing high-quality digital media campaigns
• Experience in event management including delivering large scale events to a high standard
• Proven capacity to produce high-quality written work to tight deadlines
• Capacity to work independently and on own initiative, while also integrating effectively into a small high-performance staff team
• Excellent organisational and administrative skills, including strong computer literacy
• Ability and willingness to challenge and think outside the box
• Ability to build positive relationships with a variety of people from different backgrounds
• Innovative thinking, creativity and ability to identify and seize opportunities
• Flexibility, determination and a positive attitude
• Skills in digital design, including knowledge of Universal Design principles

Desirable experience and competencies

• Experience running social media campaigns with and without ad spend
• Experience using graphic design and video editing software
• Experience of using website CMS e.g. Wordpress
• Knowledge of the community and voluntary sector in any capacity, for example as a volunteer or staff member
• Experience in budget management 
• Experience of securing and managing external sponsorships 
• Experience writing press releases and dealing with the media

Benefits

• 25 days annual leave (two to be kept for Christmas-New Year when office closes) with an extra day added per year of service up to three years. 
• Four days paid leave per annum to volunteer.  
• Remote working, with requirement to work from the office 1 day per week. 
• Four weeks “work from anywhere” policy, i.e. ability to work from anywhere in the world. 
• Access to employee pension scheme matched by the organisation up to 5%. 
• Training and development budget, ring fenced for each employee. 
• Cycle to work scheme. 
• Employee Assistance Plan. 

Further information 

We value diversity and aspire to reflect this in our workforce. We welcome applications from people from all sections of the community, irrespective of race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, family status or belief. This role requires applicants to have the right to work in Ireland and requires the post holder to reside in Ireland.

We acknowledge that generative AI is a powerful tool for editing and revision. As this role involves a lot of writing and creative work, we ask that you do not use generative AI (for example ChatGPT or similar tools) to write your application. This helps us get a fair sense of your own skills and style. Applications that appear to rely on AI-generated content may not be considered.

If you have any questions about what this means in practice, feel free to get in touch before you apply.